Grinch Party Poppers

December 4, 2012 By

The Grinch is one of Dr. Suess’ most beloved characters, and at Christmas we love to watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.
Just like we love to make Christmas trees, wreathes, snowmen, Santa, and reindeer for snacks this time of the year, we also love Mr. Grinch.

Today’s snack is a perfect finger food to put out for the kids at a Christmas party.
These would also be perfect for a Christmastime sleepover, featuring popcorn, the Grinch movie, and these scrumptious little poppers.
Healthy, cute, and super fun, you know these little guys will be a hit.
Here’s how to make them.

Step 1: Collect your ingredients and assemble Grinches

 
(Depending on how many Grinch poppers you would like to make, you will need that many of the following):
 
-slice of white string cheese (at least 1/3 inch thick)
-strawberry
-banana slice (at least 1/3 inch thick)
-green grape (with bottom sliced off so it lays flat)
-melted chocolate. (1/2 of a Hershey’s bar, broken into pieces and microwaved until melted, stirring at 20 second intervals will be plenty to make up to 25 poppers)
 
Assemble each Grinch by sliding each piece up a plastic toothpick.  I get mine from the dollar store.  They come in a package of assorted colors with little hearts on the top.  They are the perfect size, and not too sharp for the kids to eat off of.
 

 Step 2: Melt Chocolate

 
 Depending on how many poppers you are making, melt the appropriate amount of chocolate.  I used a simple Hershey bar in this recipe.

1/2 of a Hershey’s bar, broken into pieces and microwaved until melted, stirring at 20 second intervals will be plenty to make up to 25 poppers.

  Step 3: Pipe Grinch faces

Place your melted chocolate into a piping bag with a very small tip attachment; 
or do it the easy way by using a ziploc bag with a tiny snip off of one corner to pipe your faces.
Make 2 eyes with frowning eyebrows above them.  Next, make a wide smile with bumps and a little point at the bottom middle.

Step 4:  Chill, serve, and enjoy!

 
Chill in the refridgerator for at least 15 minutes.
 

 My little girls LOVED these guys.  I made about 10 of them for today’s post, and they had to be cut off after 4 each!  (They still hadn’t had their lunch yet)!
 
TIP: Pipe Grinch faces onto grapes and chill in advance if you want to work ahead and prevent the rest of the ingredients from being out in the air too long.
 
(Sharing HERE)
 
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4 easy play date snacks

November 19, 2012 By

I have some easy, healthy, and fun snacks for your next play date.

Now that the weather is cooler, we will be hosting more play dates here at the house as opposed to meeting our friends out at the park, pool, or outside entertainment.
I thought I’d share a few ideas of healthy and cute foods to put out for the kids to inhale munch on as the moms chit chat!

#1: Peanut Butter Dipping Fun 

  Provide some peanut butter for dipping and some peanut butter friendly items like celery, apples, graham crackers, and bananas.  Each kid can get their own little cup of peanut butter too – those individual ones would be great, and they could collect their dipping stuff from the main serving platter too!

#2: Skewers

 Just about anything served on a skewer is irresistible to the kids!
I made these to include awesome vitamin packed fruits as well as protein rich ham and cheese for calcium.
Collect items for your skewer, such as grapes, pineapple, strawberry, ham, string cheese chunks, etc.  Arrange in an adorably cute pattern.
Cut the pointy end off of the skewer, and serve!

#3:  Fruit Flowers 

These happy little flower snacks take less than a minute to throw together.
With a clementine orange arranged as flower petals, grapes as a stem and leaves, and some cereal beneath it all, a sweet and healthy snack is ready for as many as you need!

 

#4:  Happy Friends

 Create some happy little friends using some rolled up turkey or ham for legs, a slice of cheese for a body, carrot arms, banana hair, and blueberry eyes with a grape mouth.
You can make these guys with anything you have on hand.  You will be a hit with your kids’ friends by offering them such a fun little friend for a snack!

(Sharing HERE)

 

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Joshua and the battle of Jericho

November 6, 2012 By
Joshua 6:1-27 tells the story of the great city of Jericho with walls so high and fortified that no adversary could break through.  God called the Israelite leader Joshua to march around the city with the priests blowing their trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the ark of the covenant for six days.  On the seventh day, they were to march around the city seven times and all of the Israelite people were to shout.  When this happened, God told Joshua, the great walls of the city would come crashing down, and, in this way, the Lord would give the city over to His people.
Read this story with your child, or read the story from the children’s bible (HEREis the one we use), and then create this story for lunch!
Build walls using grapes sliced in half, laid flat side down onto the plate.  Next, slice baby carrots in half lengthwise and lay a couple of them down to be the Israelites.  Thinly slice the other half of the baby carrot and cut to shape for arms and legs.  Complete the scene with some green celery grass below the city walls and add two small triangular slices of pineapple for the priest’s horns.  A nice sun in the sky completes the picture.
(By the way, once I saw the photo, I realized that the Jericho guy looks like he’s smiling . . . oops!  That was supposed to be a round mouth saying “oh no!”)
Once this lunch was complete and we retold the story, Grace “tore the walls down” as they fell in the story.  She had fun with that!
Finally, I sliced up the “grass” below the city for her to dip into her peanut butter.
Variations:
Build the wall with other fruit like strawberries, bananas, or blueberries.
Use pineapple for the sun, or cheese for the trumpets.
Enjoy!
Check out our other bible stories HERE.
(Linking up with these fine parties)

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Columbus Day Snack

October 5, 2012 By
Columbus Day is celebrated the second Monday in October across the United States.

 

Teach the kiddos about why we celebrate Columbus Day with this easy snack!  Take one apple and slice to make the bases of each ship.  Next, slice a stick of celery to make the pole for the sail.  Finally, add a sail by using a cracker (I used Wheat Thins) and add a little sun made of cheese.
To create the waves as well as the names on the ships, use the following method with some yogurt:

 

Variations:
Use cheese for the sails (those square slices of cheese would work great)
Use little sandwich cut-outs for the boats
Make the pole out of a carrot stick
Use your imagination!

(Linking up HERE)

 

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Grover

September 10, 2012 By

Blueberries are known to be a superfood, containing lots of antioxidants, fiber, and other vitamins that are so beneficial for our kids.  

Why not have a great big serving by creating Grover the monster for our snack?  
This Grover was made on a 6 inch kids plate.  Make the eyes by slicing the sides (lengthwise) off of a hardboiled egg.  Cut a blueberry in half to lay it flat over each eye.  
Next, create Grover’s mouth using raspberries running from one end of the plate to the other.  Raspberries are also full of great vitamins like C, E, and A as well as magnesium and fiber, to name a few.
Add a sliced strawberry in the center of the plate for the nose, and fill the rest of Grover’s face in with blueberries. 
Blueberries are not number one on my daughter’s list of favorite fruits, but she ate every single one in this snack!  It’s truly a snack to feel great about giving to your little one!
Variations:
Use yogurt for the whites of Grover’s eyes 

(Linked HERE) 

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Kite

September 3, 2012 By
Do you own a kite?  Last summer, we took the girls to a kite festival.  They got to see professional kite flyers putting on a great air show.  There was music, and even a chance for the kids to make their own kites.  Granted, the kites they got to make were only out of paper, but it was a great way to introduce the kids to all that kites can do when flown right!
To create this kite lunch, take a peanut butter sandwich and cut a diamond.  Next, slice a baby carrot into thin sections to create the criss cross over the kite.  To make the string, slice a banana into a thin strip, and place strawberries over it to look like bows.
Show that the kite is in the sky by adding a bird made of sliced apples and a puffy cottage cheese cloud.

Variations:
Create a larger kite using a banana for the outline and fruit for the colorful filling.  Use yogurt to draw a string.
Use yogurt or whipped cream for a cloud.
Make this into a dessert by making the kite out of a s’more or a brownie/bar you have on hand.

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Flower garden

August 30, 2012 By

Make use of wonderful seasonal fruit like peaches by creating an awesome snack of a flower garden.
Reminiscent of our famous flower pot snack, this snack is refreshing and beautiful.
Create three flowers.  The first is a turkey breast rosette. Roll up a slice of turkey breast and position atop the celery stem as shown.  The second will be your peach.  Slice normally and position like a flower as shown.  The third will be a strawberry flower.  Slick a strawberry into nine sections (or so) and position on the plate to look like a flower.
Serve with some peanut butter for dipping the celery, and you have a lovely and healthy snack!

(Linked HERE)

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Solar System

August 27, 2012 By
A great excuse to give our kids a variety of fruits, veggies, meats, and cheeses in one snack (while educating them at the same time), is to make the Solar System with them!  Teach your children about the planets in our Solar System (yes, I know Pluto is no longer considered a planet…read on), and give them a healthy snack at the same time!
Using snacks is an amazing way to teach your young child about science.  Take a look at our Volcano post for a good example of this!

I found foods to use for each planet first, then I handed each to my daughter one at a time and had her repeat the names of the planets with me in order.  As she repeated each one, she laid it on the plate (and I spaced them out a little more for the picture).  She normally doesn’t like pepperoni but she ate it with this snack!
Below is a list of which foods I used for each planet:
Sun: mandarin orange, top sliced off and peeled but not separated
Mercury: a red grape
Venus: celery
Earth: kiwi
Mars: strawberry
Jupiter: pepperoni
Saturn: cheddar cheese
Uranus: a slice of string cheese
Neptune: ham
Pluto: (No longer technically a planet) corn
I added Pluto as a way to show my daughter that it was once a part of the solar system but is no longer.
And this one is another solar system I made last week showing the lines of orbit that each planet has.
I prefer the first version, which do you prefer?
The solar system above was made to show how each planet orbits the sun in our galaxy, the milky way.
I made the lines in the photo below as well as the stars in the photos above using this technique:
Variations:
Make your planets out of anything you have in the house that you can cut into circular shapes.  Use your own creativity for this one!

If you enjoyed this post, check out our other educational snacks

 

Volcano
Egyptian Pyramids
Alphabet Lunch (practice your ABC’s)
Stoplight (to learn about traffic rules)
The Flood
Jonah in the Big Fish
David and Goliath
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?  (Includes a lunch and learning activity)
Joshua and the Battle of Jericho
Snowflake Pancakes (plus 25 great educational activities for the snow)

 

 

 

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Hot air balloon

August 13, 2012 By

 

Have you spotted a hot air balloon in the air with your child this summer?  Why not make one for lunch today?

 


Hot air balloon:  The basket is a graham cracker, ropes are string cheese thinly cut, balloon circle is made from a banana cut in half lengthwise and made to look like a circle, interior is strawberries and celery.  The clouds are cottage cheese and the people are carrots with raisins cut into fourths!



This snack really allows the fruits and veggies to be the star!



Variations:

Basket: cheese, peanut butter sandwich, ham, 

Balloon interior: grapes, raspberries, blueberries, orange slices, any fruit or veggie that fits!

 


(linked HERE) 



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Flower Pot Snack

August 13, 2012 By
When my daughter and I first started making food art, one of the first creative snacks we thought of was this basket of flowers.
The best thing about making a flower arrangement is that it is totally customizable.  You can make flower out of just about any nutritious food.  Fruits and vegetables are especially perfect because of their bright, beautiful colors.

First, I’ll share how we made this one, then I’ll give you some suggestions for alternative flowers.
Place a graham cracker at the bottom of your plate for a basket.  
Next, thinly slice 1-2  celery sticks flower stems.  If you feel so inclined, you can add “leaves” made out of sugar snap peas, avocado, more celery, green apples, or green grapes.
  Now, create four flowers.  Here’s what we used for ours.
Flower 1:  carrots and a grape.  Flower 2: bananas and the bottom of a strawberry.  Flower 3:  a piece of toast with jam cut into the shape of a tulip.  Flower 4: rosette made of ham.  

I like this snack because of the variety of food groups represented, as well as the way it showcases the beautiful colors of the fruits and veggies.

Other great foods to use for flowers:

strawberries

peaches

nectarines

avocado

watermelon

apples

avocado

bell pepper

hummus: pipe onto plate with a beautiful tip using your cake decorating supplies!

Use your imagination!  I’m sure you will come up with a fantastic plate!  Make one today!

If you enjoyed this snack, you might like our other flower snacks, as well as our nature inspired snacks and everyday scenes.

(Sharing HERE)

Did you enjoy today’s snack?  Learn more about this blog here.

 

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